This disclosure relates to formable sheets for medical applications and methods of manufacture thereof.
Repositioning teeth for aesthetic or other reasons is generally accomplished by wearing devices called “braces”. Braces comprise a variety of components such as brackets, archwires, ligatures, and O-rings. Attaching these components to a patient's teeth is a tedious and time-consuming procedure requiring many meetings with the treating orthodontist. This reduces the orthodontist's patient capacity and thus makes orthodontic treatment quite expensive.
The primary force-inducing component in a set of braces is the archwire. The archwire is resilient and is attached to the brackets by way of slots in the brackets. The archwire links the brackets together and exerts forces on them to move the teeth over time. Twisted wires or elastomeric O-rings are generally used to reinforce attachment of the archwire to the brackets. Attachment of the archwire to the brackets is called “ligation” and wires used in this procedure are called “ligatures.” The elastomeric O-rings are called “plastics.”
After the archwire is in place, periodic meetings with the orthodontist are required, during which the patient's braces will be adjusted by installing a different archwire having different force-inducing properties or by replacing or tightening existing ligatures. These meetings are generally scheduled every three to six weeks.
As detailed above, the application of braces to patient's teeth is a tedious and time consuming process and requires many visits to the orthodontist's office. Further, the use of braces is unsightly, aesthetically unpleasing, uncomfortable, presents a risk of infection, and makes brushing, flossing, and other dental hygiene procedures difficult. For these reasons, it is desirable to provide alternative methods and systems for repositioning the teeth.